Braves Take 2 of 3 From Phillies, Win Finale 7-5

After Roy Halladay‘s dominating performance on Monday the Braves snapped back to take the last two games of the series from the Phillies. In the final game, the Braves pounded Phillies’ starter Jamie Moyer for seven runs including three home runs.

Martin Prado banged out three more hits two of which left the ball park. Prado led off the game with his first home run of the night. The Phillies answered back quickly against Braves starter Kris Medlen scoring their first run of the night on a Jimmy Rollins double in the second inning. The Phillies took the lead in the fifth on a two run Ryan Howard home run making the score 3-1.

Then came the sixth inning and that was where things went South for Jamie Moyer and the Phillies. The Braves scored six times in the frame the first coming on Martin Prado‘s second home run of the game and tenth of the season. Later in the inning Brian McCann followed with a bases loaded double that scored Omar Infante, Chipper Jones, and Troy Glaus giving the Braves the lead 5-3. Matt Diaz then capped off the scoring for the Braves with his first home run of the year scoring McCann and the Braves took a 7-3 advantage into the seventh.

Phillies tacked on single runs in the seventh and eighth innings but couldn’t close the gap any further. The final margin was 7-5. Kris Medlen ran his record to 6-1 on the season. He pitched six and two thirds innings while allowing four runs. Medlen has a sterling 3.19 ERA on the season. Billy Wagner pitched a perfect ninth for his nineteenth save of the season while striking out two in the process.

Throughout this season, the Braves have had many different players step up to fill spots that were either slowed due to slumps or injury. Through it all there has been one constant. That constant has been Martin Prado. Prado now leads the National League in hits with 121 and average at .336. To go along with that he scored 61 runs, hit 10 home runs, and has 39 RBI. Most of that damage has come from the lead off spot which he has locked down for manager Bobby Cox. Prado is on pace to be the first Braves hitter to record 200 hits in a season since Marquis Grissom did it in 1996. The closest a Braves hitter has come to 200 hits was Andruw Jones in 2000 when he collected 199 hits.

With the victory the Braves increased their lead in the National League East to six games over the Phillies and three games over the New York Mets. The Braves are off on Thursday and will be in New York to battle the Mets for three games over the weekend to head into the All Star Break.